While it's definitely at the 'road' end of the gravel/adventure/whatever spectrum, I've been riding the Whyte Wessex One for a couple of months and love it. 1x11 is pure awesome. Fits up to 35c tyres, so def not for the gnarliest tracks, but perfect for my intended usage of long rides on lanes, by-ways, unpaved paths etc.

I got a Wahoo Bolt just before Christmas, and have done 600km on it so far - I am so much happier than I was with the Garmin 520 plus. Set-up via phone is a dream, and I had plenty of charge remaining after a 12 hour ride with backlight on the whole time. The buttons on the device are glove-friendly, and the LEDs for turn indication as well as speed against ride average are also a neat feature.

I'm planning a couple of rides over the xmas break of about 130 miles each on the 27th and 28th if anyone is interested in joining. Start/end in Bristol, one loops up to Abergavenny and the other over to Salisbury.

I was there for the start of the overnight audax a couple of weekends back....amazing space and atmosphere. I had no idea you were involved @jammy - that's awesome. I live in the neighbourhood so will be popping in with a frequency.

Just spent my entire hungover day post-Christmas party reading this thread from start to finish. Best binge I've had since doing 4 seasons of Breaking Bad over a weekend.

Astonishing stuff: brilliant writing, incredible adventures, funny as fuck and inspiring to boot. I'm now following the whole bunch of you nutters on the 'gram too, and can't wait to read more of these.

This may sound like a daft question, but do any of you carry a lock on ultra races? I've got a couple of those lockable zip ties which weigh practically nothing, but could be snipped through in a matter of seconds. I'm thinking it would be enough to deter a chancer from just riding off with it, and would plan to not let the bike out of my sight, but made me wonder what other do in this respect.